1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system and method for using machine-readable technology to uniquely identify garments and to associate the uniquely identified garments with particular users.
2. Background Information
Many institutions provide employees with garments to help define a brand, create an image that is unique to the institution or to increase security by enabling the institution to clearly identify its employees, among other reasons. Under ideal conditions, the garments are maintained in inventory for several months before they become unusable and need replacement.
However, institutions find that garments are unaccounted for or otherwise are removed from the inventory before they become unusable and need replacement. Garments may be classified as unaccounted for due to a variety of reasons, including employee theft, laundry service theft, tailoring service theft, misplacement within the institution, or loss due to other reasons.
Replacing garments that are removed from inventory before they are deemed unusable adds substantial cost to providing a garment service. As a result, a system is needed that accounts for garments during their lifetime, including from a time that the garments are introduced into inventory until the garments are disposed upon becoming unusable. The system should be robust to withstand the various environments that are imposed upon a garment during its lifetime.
One known system attempted to track garments using active radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. However, the RFID tag system encountered failure during the various environments that are imposed upon a garment during its lifetime, such as the strenuous washing cycle. Various other drawbacks exist.
Other drawbacks exist with this and other known systems.